Alick Horsnell (1881–1916) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, draughtsmen and artist working in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

during the early years of the 20th Century.

Life

Horsnell was born in Chelmsford, Essex, on 12 August 1881. He trained as an architect in the office of Frederick Chancellor FRIBA in Chelmsford. In 1899 he designed a house for Charles Baskett, then assistant master at Chelmsford School of Art, in Maldon Road, Colchester. It is distinctive design in the manner of Voysey, with white walls, green slate roof, and a canopy over the front door on curly iron brackets, and is one of Horsnell's few surviving buildings While working in Chelmsford he won a travelling studentship from the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest private school of architecture in the UK. The AA hosts exhibitions, lectures, symposia and publications. History The Architectura ...

. He visited France and Italy and the sketches from these visits were well regarded. Many of them were displayed at the RIBA in the summer of 1915 and published in the ''Building News and Engineering Journal'' in 1915 and 1916. He won both the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) Tite Prize in 1906 (for Italianate Designs) and the Soane Medallion in 1910, the latter awarded for his design for a

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakes ...

. He moved to London, where he worked at 2 South Square,

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alongside Charles Gascoyne, George Nott, and Robert Atkinson. During these pre-war years, he worked as an assistant to

Ernest Newton Ernest Newton (12 September 1856 – 25 January 1922) was an English architect, President of Royal Institute of British Architects and founding member of the Art Workers' Guild. Life Newton was the son of an estate manager of Bickley, Ken ...

and drew perspectives for notable houses in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

(Greenway, Shurdington) and Lingfield (Ardenrun Place). One of his last great perspectives was the pencil and watercolour of

County Hall, London County Hall (sometimes called London County Hall) is a building in the district of Lambeth, London that was the headquarters of London County Council (LCC) and later the Greater London Council (GLC). The building is on the South Bank of the Riv ...

. This perspective brought to life the designs of

Ralph Knott Ralph Knott (3 May 1878 – 25 January 1929) was a British architect. He was responsible for building the massive six-storey "Edwardian Baroque" style County Hall building for the London County Council. Biography Ralph Knott was born in ...

. Horsnell's artistic skills were also seen in his etchings, engravings and watercolours. A member of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers, two of his etchings, ''Rue de Barres, Paris'' and ''The Green, Bosham'' were exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1910 and one of his watercolours, ''The Borghese Gardens'', was exhibited in 1911. . He commenced private practice in April 1914. He came second in the competition to design the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

Building in Whitehall, a brief won by E. Vincent Harris. His drawings were selected for the scheme to build a town hall for Middleton near Manchester but this scheme was postponed due to the outbreak of war. At the outbreak of war he served with the 28th London Regiment before being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 7th

Suffolk Regiment The Suffolk Regiment was an infantry regiment Line infantry, of the line in the British Army with a history dating back to 1685. It saw service for three centuries, participating in many wars and conflicts, including the World War I, First and ...

. He died in on 1 July 1916 on the first day of the battle of the Somme; his name is recorded on the

Thiepval Memorial The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the ...

. Writing in the ''Essex County Chronicle and Essex Weekly News'' on 4 August 1916, Arthur Bartlett FRCA said he was

undoubtedly well ahead of any of his contemporaries in the architectural profession, both in his mastery of design and his powers of execution.He was the happy bearer of the spark of genius which lighted his path and allowed him to step out confidently ahead of his fellows. His unerring instinct in matters of taste enabled him to design in the manner of tomorrow rather than follow on the lines of yesterday, while his gift of brilliant draughtsmanship gave him the power of presenting his ideas in the most attractive form. Had he lived till the end of the war to take up his work where he left it, there seems little doubt but that he would have won his way to a foremost place among the architects of the day. In 1922, collections of his work were given to a number of museums, including the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
,
the British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and the RIBA British Architectural Library Drawings and Archives Collection by his sister.''The Year's Art'' 1923, p. 31 Further works are held at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

References

External links

Works in the archives of the RIBA

Works in the Victoria and Albert Museum

Works in the British Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horsnell, Alick British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century English architects People from Chelmsford Architects from Essex Architects from London Suffolk Regiment officers Military personnel from Chelmsford Artists' Rifles soldiers British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme 1916 deaths 1881 births Territorial Force soldiers